Former AFL players among country footy finals performers

RYAN Murphy wasn’t the only former Docker with a five-goal haul to his name in local footy around the state last weekend.

Murphy, the league’s leading goal-kicker with 74 majors from 20 games, narrowly missed out on the B.J Giles Medal for best on ground as Trinity Aquinas made it back-to-back WA Amateur Football League A Grade premierships on Saturday.

West Coast premiership big man Quinten Lynch also featured in the 35-point win over North Beach at Steel Blue Oval.

About an hour’s drive south, former Fremantle and Essendon cult hero Kepler Bradley steered Waroona into the Peel Football League grand final off his own boot.

Despite battling a foot complaint, Bradley kicked them from all angles to finish with a game-high five majors and end Baldivis’ premiership defence hopes.

The 31-year-old, who played 117 AFL matches, has been in red-hot form with 16 goals from his last five outings.

The Demons, which knocked former Brisbane pair Ash McGrath and Mitch Clark’s Centrals team the week before, will come up against Pinjarra in Saturday’s grand final at Rushton Park.

Former Carlton-listed and West Perth premiership player Rohan Kerr, who finished second in the league’s Ross Elliott Medal best and fairest count, has been one of the Tigers’ stars since crossing from the WAFL.

In the South West Football League, former Port Adelaide rookie Matt Martin sent Bunbury into Sunday’s grand final, kicking the winning goal with four minutes remaining against ex-Freo rookie and six-time WAFL premiership player Darren Rumble and the Harvey Bulls.

Former St Kilda and Fremantle midfielder Brett Peake, who retired from the WAFL earlier this season, was among the Bulldogs’ best.

Peake has kicked 53 majors in 18 games at Bunbury this season including an eight-goal haul against Carey Park.

He also represented the South West at the Landmark Country Championships and won the Terry House Medal for best on ground in WA Country’s drought-breaking win over South Australia in July.

Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault, which has former Swan Kristin Thornton and ex-Brisbane Lion James Hawksley at their disposal, had the weekend off after qualifying for the SWFL grand final the direct way.

Former Carlton defender Josh Bootsma tasted premiership glory for the second straight season - this time in the Upper Great Southern Football League.

Bootsma was part of Peel Thunder’s maiden WAFL flag last season before switching to Katanning Wanderers, which defeated the Narrogin Hawks by 43 points earlier this month.

Bootsma’s dad and former Docker Brad Bootsma, who is captain-coach of Corrigin, didn’t have the same luck in the Eastern District Football League finale.

The 44-year-old’s three goals wasn’t enough to get the Tigers over the line against Bruce Rock, with the Magpies capping off an undefeated season with a 27-point triumph.

Former West Coast pair Gerrick Weedon and Michael Embley endured heartbreak in the West Kimberley Football Association.

The West Australian

Weedon and Embley’s Derby Tigers went down by two points against the Broome Bulls.

Weedon kicked one goal but missed his chance to give Derby the lead deep in the final term.

Embley, the younger brother of Eagles’ Norm Smith medallist Andrew, was sent off in the opening quarter.

At Fitzroy Crossing, former Western Bulldogs cult hero Zephaniah Skinner and the Noonkanbah Blues took out the Central Kimberley Football League premiership.

The Blues defeated Bayulu Bulldogs by 21 points.

Fremantle’s 2012 first-round draftee Josh Simpson and his Mullewa teammates were crowned kings of the Greatern Northern Football League in Geraldton.

Simpson, who was delisted by the Dockers in 2014 after two games in two turbulent seasons in the AFL, wasn’t among the Saints’ best in their 30-point victory over Railways.

Former Hawk Jarrod Kayler-Thomson booted two goals in a losing cause as Federals went down to Kellerberrin-Tammin in the Avon Football Association grand final on Sunday.

Kayler-Thomson was a joint winner of the Stacey Medal as the league’s best and fairest.

Greg Broughton couldn’t cap off a stellar return to Toodyay with a Mortlock Football League flag.